Abstract

Heavy metals are important environmental pollutants and their toxicity in human, plants and animals have been received much more attention. A study was conducted to investigate the heavy metal pollution of roadside soil, grass and Caesalpinia species of Bagalkot city (India). The highest levels of metal concentration of Pb, Cu, Cd, Mn, Zn, Cr and Ni were found in the samples from very traffic congestion. The soil samples at a depth (0-20 cm) grass leaves and Caesalpinia leaves were taken from different sampling sites viz; S1, S2, S3, S4 and S5 on state high way with high traffic roads passing through Bagalkot (India) were determined by Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer. Results showed that soil and both grass and Caesalpinia contained elevated levels of the metal. It was found that the primary source of the contamination occurs mainly by the vehicular exhausts. The increased circulation of the toxic metals in soils, grass and Caesalpinia may result in the inevitable build up of such xenobiotics in the food chain. The variation in heavy metal concentration is due to the changes in traffic density and anthropogenic activities. Thus, it is concluded that grass, Caesalpinia and soil samples were used as bioindicators of metal pollution in roadside.